#David Tennant does a podcast with...

[mollyrealized]

How Michael Met Neil

original direct link [MP3]

(Neil, if you see this, please feel free to grab the transcript and store on your site; I had no easy way of contacting you.)

DAVID TENNANT: Tell me about @neil-gaiman then, because he's in that category [previously: “such a profound effect on my life”] as well.

MICHAEL SHEEN: So this is what has brought us together.

DAVID: Yes.

MICHAEL: To the new love story for the 21st century.

DAVID: Exactly.

MICHAEL: So when I went to drama school, there was a guy called Gary Turner in my year. And within the first few weeks, we were doing something, having a drink or whatever. And he said to me, “Do you read comic books?”

And I said, “No.”  I mean, this is … what … '88?  '88, '89.  So it was … now I know that it was a period of time that was a big change, transformation going through comic books.  Rather than it being thought of as just superheroes and Batman and Superman, there was this whole new era of a generation of writers like Grant Morrison.

DAVID: The kids who'd grown up reading comic books were now making comic books

MICHAEL: Yeah, yeah, and starting to address different kinds of subjects through the comic book medium. So it wasn't about just superheroes, it was all kinds of stuff going on – really fascinating stuff. And I was totally unaware of this.

And so this guy Gary said to me, "Do you read them?" And I said, "No."  And he went, "Right, okay, here's The Watchman [sic] by Alan Moore. Here's Swamp Thing. Here's Hellblazer. And here's Sandman.”

And Sandman was Neil Gaiman's big series that put his name on the map. And I read all those, and, just – I was blown away by all of them, but particularly the Sandman stories, because he was drawing on mythology, which was something I was really interested in, and fairy tales, folklore, and philosophy, and Shakespeare, and all kinds of stuff were being mixed up in this story.  And I absolutely loved it.

So I became a big fan of Neil's, and started reading everything by him. And then fairly shortly after that, within six months to a year, Good Omens the book came out, which Neil wrote with Terry Pratchett. And so I got the book – because I was obviously a big fan of Neil's by this point – read it, loved it, then started reading Terry Pratchett’s stuff as well, because I didn't know his stuff before then – and then spent years and years and years just being a huge fan of both of them.

And then eventually when – I'd done films like the Underworld films and doing Twilight films. And I think it was one of the Twilight films, there was a lot of very snooty interviews that happened where people who considered themselves well above talking about things like Twilight were having to interview me … and, weirdly, coming at it from the attitude of 'clearly this is below you as well' … weirdly thinking I'm gonna go, 'Yeah, fucking Twilight.”

And I just used to go, "You know what? Some of the greatest writing of the last 50-100 years has happened in science fiction or fantasy."  Philip K Dick is one of my favorite writers of all time. In fact, the production of Hamlet I did was mainly influenced by Philip K Dick.  Ursula K. Le Guin and Asimov, and all these amazing people. And I talked about Neil as well. And so I went off on a bit of a rant in this interview.

Anyway, the interview came out about six months later, maybe.  Knock on the door, open the door, delivery of a big box. That’s interesting. Open the box, there's a card at the top of the box. I open the card.

It says, From one fan to another, Neil Gaiman.  And inside the box are first editions of Neil's stuff, and all kinds of interesting things by Neil. And he just sent this stuff.

DAVID: You'd never met him?

MICHAEL: Never met him. He'd read the interview, or someone had let him know about this interview where I'd sung his praises and stood up for him and the people who work within that sort of genre as being like …

And he just got in touch. We met up for the first time when he came to – I was in Los Angeles at the time, and he came to LA.  And he said, "I'll take you for a meal."

I said, “All right.”

He said, "Do you want to go somewhere posh, or somewhere interesting?”

I said, "Let's go somewhere interesting."

He said, "Right, I'm going to take you to this restaurant called The Hump." And it's at Santa Monica Airport. And it's a sushi restaurant.

I was like, “Right, okay.” So I had a Mini at the time. And we get in my Mini and we drive off to Santa Monica Airport. And this restaurant was right on the tarmac, like, you could sit in the restaurant (there's nobody else there when we got there, we got there quite early) and you're watching the planes landing on Santa Monica Airport. It's extraordinary. 

And the chef comes out and Neil says, "Just bring us whatever you want. Chef's choice."

So, I'd never really eaten sushi before. So we sit there; we had this incredible meal where they keep bringing these dishes out and they say, “This is [blah, blah, blah]. Just use a little bit of soy sauce or whatever.”  You know, “This is eel.  This is [blah].”

And then there was this one dish where they brought out and they didn't say what it was. It was like “mystery dish”, we had it ... delicious. Anyway, a few more people started coming into the restaurant as time went on.

And we're sort of getting near the end, and I said, "Neil, I can't eat anymore. I'm gonna have to stop now. This is great, but I can't eat–"

"Right, okay. We'll ask for the bill in a minute."

And then the door opens and some very official people come in. And it was the Feds. And the Feds came in, and we knew they were because they had jackets on that said they were part of the Federal Bureau of Whatever. And about six of them come in. Two of them go … one goes behind the counter, two go into the kitchen, one goes to the back. They've all got like guns on and stuff.

And me and Neil are like, "What on Earth is going on?"

And then eventually one guy goes, "Ladies and gentlemen, if you haven't ordered already, please leave. If you're still eating your meal, please finish up, pay your bill, leave."*

[* - delivered in a perfect American ‘serious law agent’ accent/impression]

And we were like, "Oh my God, are we poisoned? Is there some terrible thing that's happened?"  

We'd finished, so we pay our bill.  And then all the kitchen staff are brought out. And the head chef is there. The guy who's been bringing us this food. And he's in tears. And he says to Neil, "I'm so sorry." He apologizes to Neil.  And we leave. We have no idea what happened.

DAVID: But you're assuming it's the mystery dish.

MICHAEL: Well, we're assuming that we can't be going to – we can't be –  it can't be poisonous. You know what I mean? It can't be that there's terrible, terrible things.

So the next day was the Oscars, which is why Neil was in town. Because Coraline had been nominated for an Oscar. Best documentary that year was won by The Cove, which was by a team of people who had come across dolphins being killed, I think.

Turns out, what was happening at this restaurant was that they were having illegal endangered species flown in to the airport, and then being brought around the back of the restaurant into the kitchen.

We had eaten whale – endangered species whale. That was the mystery dish that they didn't say what it was.

And the team behind The Cove were behind this sting, and they took them down that night whilst we were there.

DAVID: That’s extraordinary.

MICHAEL: And we didn't find this out for months.  So for months, me and Neil were like, "Have you worked anything out yet? Have you heard anything?"

"No, I haven't heard anything."

And then we heard that it was something to do with The Cove, and then we eventually found out that that restaurant, they were all arrested. The restaurant was shut down. And it was because of that. And we'd eaten whale that night.

DAVID: And that was your first meeting with Neil Gaiman.

MICHAEL: That was my first meeting. And also in the drive home that night from that restaurant, he said, and we were in my Mini, he said, "Have you found the secret compartment?"

I said, "What are you talking about?" It's such a Neil Gaiman thing to say.

DAVID: Isn't it?

MICHAEL: The secret compartment? Yeah. Each Mini has got a secret compartment. I said, "I had no idea." It's secret. And he pressed a little button and a thing opened up. And it was a secret compartment in my own car that Neil Gaiman showed me.

DAVID: Was there anything inside it?

MICHAEL: Yeah, there was a little man. And he jumped out and went, "Hello!" No, there was nothing in there. There was afterwards because I started putting...

DAVID: Sure. That's a very Neil Gaiman story. All of that is such a Neil Gaiman story.

MICHAEL: That's how it began. Yeah.

DAVID: And then he came to offer you the part in Good Omens.

MICHAEL: Yeah. Well, we became friends and we would whenever he was in town, we would meet up and yeah, and then eventually he started, he said, "You know, I'm working on an adaptation of Good Omens." And I can remember at one point Terry Gilliam was going to maybe make a film of it. And I remember being there with Neil and Terry when they were talking about it. And...

DAVID: Were you involved at that point?

MICHAEL: No, no, I wasn't involved. I just happened to have met up with Neil that day.

DAVID: Right.

MICHAEL: And then Terry Gilliam came along and they were chatting, that was the day they were talking about that or whatever.

And then eventually he sent me one of the scripts for an early draft of like the first episode of Good Omens. And he said – and we started talking about me being involved in it, doing it – he said, “Would you be interested?” I was like, "Yeah, of course."  I went, "Oh my God." And he said, "Well, I'll send you the scripts when they come," and I would read them, and we'd talk about them a little bit. And so I was involved.

But it was always at that point with the idea, because he'd always said about playing Crowley in it. And so, as time went on, as I was reading the scripts, I was thinking, "I don't think I can play Crowley. I don't think I'm going to be able to do it." And I started to get a bit nervous because I thought, “I don't want to tell Neil that I don't think I can do this.”  But I just felt like I don't think I can play Crowley.

DAVID: Of course you can [play Crowley?].

MICHAEL: Well, I just on a sort of, on a gut level, sometimes you have it on a gut level.

DAVID: Sure, sure.

MICHAEL: I can do this.

DAVID: Yeah.

MICHAEL: Or I can't do this. And I just thought, “You know what, this is not the part for me. The other part is better for me, I think. I think I can do that, I don't think I could do that.”

But I was scared to tell Neil because I thought, "Well, he wants me to play Crowley" – and then it turned out he had been feeling the same way as well.  And he hadn't wanted to mention it to me, but he was like, "I think Michael should really play Aziraphale."

And neither of us would bring it up.  And then eventually we did. And it was one of those things where you go, "Oh, thank God you said that. I feel exactly the same way." And then I think within a fairly short space of time, he said, “I think we've got … David Tennant … for Crowley.” And we both got very excited about that.

And then all these extraordinary people started to join in. And then, and then off we went.

DAVID: That's the other thing about Neil, he collects people, doesn't he? So he'll just go, “Oh, yeah, I've phoned up Frances McDormand, she's up for it.” Yeah. You're, what?

MICHAEL: “I emailed Jon Hamm.”

DAVID: Yeah.

MICHAEL: And yeah, and you realize how beloved he is and how beloved his work is. And I think we would both recognise that Good Omens is one of the most beloved of all of Neil's stuff.

DAVID: Yes.

MICHAEL: And had never been turned into anything.

DAVID: Yeah.

MICHAEL: And so the kind of responsibility of that, I mean, for me, for someone who has been a fan of him and a fan of the book for so long, I can empathize with all the fans out there who are like, “Oh, they better not fuck this up.”

DAVID: Yes.

MICHAEL: “And this had better be good.” And I have that part of me. But then, of course, the other part of me is like, “But I'm the one who might be fucking it up.”

DAVID: Yeah.

MICHAEL: So I feel that responsibility as well.

DAVID: But we have Neil on site.

MICHAEL: Yes. Well, Neil being the showrunner …

DAVID: Yeah. I think it takes the curse off.

MICHAEL: … I think it made a massive difference, didn't it? Yeah. You feel like you're in safe hands.

DAVID: Well, we think. Not that the world has seen it yet.

MICHAEL (grimly): No, I know.

DAVID: But it was a -- it's been a -- it's been a joy to work with you on it. I can't wait for the world to see it.

MICHAEL: Oh my God.  Oh, well, I mean, it's the only, I've done a few things where there are two people, it's a bit of a double act, like Frost-Nixon and The Queen, I suppose, in some ways. But, and I've done it, Amadeus or whatever.

This is the only thing I've done where I really don't think of it as “my character” or “my performance as that character”.  I think of it totally as us.

DAVID: Yeah.

MICHAEL: The two of us.

DAVID: Yes.

MICHAEL: Like they, what I do is defined by what you do.

DAVID: Yeah.

MICHAEL: And that was such a joy to have that experience. And it made it so much easier in a way as well, I found, because you don't feel like you're on your own in it. Like it's totally us together doing this and the two characters totally complement each other. And the experience of doing it was just a real joy.

DAVID: Yeah.  Well, I hope the world is as excited to see it as we are to talk about it, frankly.

MICHAEL: You know, there's, having talked about T.S. Eliot earlier, there's another bit from The Wasteland where there's a line which goes, These fragments I have shored against my ruin.

And this is how I think about life now. There is so much in life, no matter what your circumstances, no matter what, where you've got, what you've done, how much money you got, all that. Life's hard.  I mean, you can, it can take you down at any point.

You have to find this stuff. You have to like find things that will, these fragments that you hold to yourself, they become like a liferaft, and especially as time goes on, I think, as I've got older, I've realized it is a thin line between surviving this life and going under.

And the things that keep you afloat are these fragments, these things that are meaningful to you and what's meaningful to you will be not-meaningful to someone else, you know. But whatever it is that matters to you, it doesn't matter what it was you were into when you were a teenager, a kid, it doesn't matter what it is. Go and find them, and find some way to hold them close to you. 

Make it, go and get it. Because those are the things that keep you afloat. They really are. Like doing that with him or whatever it is, these are the fragments that have shored against my ruin. Absolutely.

DAVID: That's lovely. Michael, thank you so much.

MICHAEL: Thank you.

DAVID: For talking today and for being here.

MICHAEL: Oh, it's a pleasure. Thank you.

#neil gaiman #michael sheen #david tennant does a podcast with... #good omens #aziraphale #crowley #sushi #whale #the cove #oscars 2010 #coraline #mini secret compartments #howneilmetmichael #howmichaelmetneil

[orpiknight]

So this is not kind of selfish 'can you reach Neil for this personal thing' kind of thing. This is more 'I did this to help him and perhaps you can convey'. Everyone asks him how he met Michael Sheen. He usually refers to a podcast where Michael tells the funny story. So I transcribed it. It's on Google Docs. I can get it to him for a journal entry or Tumblr entry so that he can just point people towards the story. But he has 900 million zillion asks. I don't think I can put URL in an Ask, but l

Hello! I'm not sure what the rest of your message was, or if it was supposed to send me a second half. I only got this one. :(

I'm sorry, but I can't really convey things to Neil for anyone. I know his ask box is crowded, but it's still your best bet to reach him on Tumblr. Or you can make a post with that doc link in it? He might see it if you tag him or if people share it!

And I think the podcast you're talking about is the one with the illegal whale dinner incident and secret car compartment, right? It's very cool that you took time to transcribe it! It does sound helpful.

(You can put URLs in an Ask. I believe the person will just have to copy and paste it to search, is all. :D)

#mollyrealized #thanks for the ask! #David Tennant Does a Podcast with... #Michael Sheen does give a very good answer to that question for them both yeah.

[the-ineffable-cross]

Listening to the episode of David's podcast that features Michael Sheen

Michael: "I wanted to kill everyone... including myself."

[David breaks out in laughter]

ITS SO FUNNY BUT AT THE SAME TIME SO FUCKING REAL

#cross' ineffable plan #david tennant #michael sheen #David Tennant Does A Podcast With... #“im just a fucking monkey prostitute” - Michael Sheen #its so out of pocket and so fun

[thesillydoll]

Hi! My podcast is back!

#podcast #tenth doctor #doctor who #crowley #david tennant #david tennant does a podcast with... #aziraphale #neil gaiman #good omens 2 #ineffable husbands #good omens #terry pratchett #goodomens #buenospresagios

[mizgnomer]

David Tennant and Michael Sheen keep popping up in each other's other's shows & appearances

Have I Got News for You (2023)

The Last Leg (2023)

Memory Lane (2020)

Amazon Live Good Omens chat with Neil Gaiman and David Tennant (2020)

National Television Awards (2021)

There's Something About Movies (2021)

David Tennant does a Podcast With... (2019)

#david tennant #michael sheen #buddies #have I got news for you #the last leg #memory lane #good omens #ntas #national television awards #there's something about movies #tsam #david tennant does a podcast with #long may this tradition continue #stuff i posted

[clairedelune-13]

Listening to David’s podcast with Michael, and hearing Michael describe playing Aziraphale as an “us role”. “The two of us”.

They’re literally a group of the two of them. 🥰

#im gonna go bang my head against a wall #david tennant does a podcast #michael sheen #good omens #good omens 2

[ingravinoveritas]

fangirl-muse replied to your post "This is still one of my favorite Michael/David...”

I love the conversation about the photo shoot… idk why, need you to articulate it.

Well, I will certainly try my best...

What I love about the photo shoot conversation is that it's so effortless. Michael doesn't have to preface it with any sort of explanation or rationalization for what he was feeling, because David just knows. And they both immediately give the impression that David knew during the shoot as well, and that his instinctive response was to soften the experience for Michael. It's that David saw Michael's frustration and discomfort as an externalized version of what he was also feeling and it triggered that response in him where his desire, his need to help overrode his own sense of helplessness. It's that seeing Michael not hiding the things that David always felt he had to hide sparked in David the idea that maybe he didn't have to hide after all. Maybe he could finally be open about certain things, as long as Michael is there with him.

It's that they could be so honest with each other so immediately, without any sense of hesitation or uncertainty, because they were so simpatico from early on. It's the flush of giddy excitement at knowing that someone just gets you and is right where you are, following along and encouraging you not to hold back. It's that I think that was something both Michael and David desperately needed at that time, even if they didn't know it. Falling in love not with violent passion, but with gradual, intense friendship that's just starting to deepen into something more.

I also love that this conversation became the foundation for what we saw all through the GO press tour interview, of Michael saying aloud the same things David was thinking. That this "honest version of what I'm thinking" transformed first into Michael speaking for both of them--giving voice and life to everything David felt but couldn't articulate--and now four years later transforming again into David saying these things himself. Finding that courage to become so vocal about the things that matter to him as a result of everything that's happened since 2019--not the least of which is him and Michael becoming so much closer than they already were.

It's that the newlywed phase (as @climb-dtennant-like-a-tree so perfectly put it) has ended and deepened into something that fills every part of David, that tells him that even when they are apart, Michael is still there with him. Loving him. And always willing to be his attack dog when he needs him.

So that is why i love the photo shoot conversation. I hope this is something close to what you were looking for @fangirl-muse...

#fangirl-muse #reply post #michael sheen #welsh seduction machine #david tennant #soft scottish hipster gigolo #david tennant does a podcast with #i still think Michael fell in love first. and harder. #it was more gradual for David but no less intense #the way they 'vibe' in this conversation is everything #a friendship that's become something more #i don't know if i believe in fate but i believe in them #ineffable lovers #discourse

[polywomp]

It’s always a pleasure to listen to Neil Gaiman and David Tennant, even if it’s an older show I’ve recently discovered.

#good omens #david tennant #good omens 2 #neil gaiman #davidtennant #david tennant does a podcast with #sandman #american gods

[princeloww]

David Tennant podcast. My saviour. My lifeline. (I listen to it during art class)

#david tennant #michael sheen #david tennant does a podcast

[asoulwithadream]

Okay I have a recommendation for you guys: it's called

David Tennant Does A Podcast With [blank], where blank is someone. Each person varies per episode, but its really incredibly beautifully done, and each guest always puts their most and you can really see personal growth and reflection from everyone's life's story and career and it really is extremely inspirational.

As of now, I've only listened to the episode with Michael Sheen and the beginning of Neil Gaiman's, but as of yet there is so much quotable material it is insane.

I recommend giving it a watch. Judi Dench is on my queue list.

#david tennant #david tennant does a podcast with #it even has a little intro #michael sheen #neil gaiman #podcast

[twoheartsandatardis]

Please come back!

#David Tennant #David Tennant does a podcast with #Ncuti Gatwa #Russell T Davies #Please please please #Also - if anyone hasn't listened to it #GO NOW and listen #it's amazing! #I LOVE the episode with Olivia Colman #And the one with Michael Sheen #and also the one with Jodie #Basically I loved all of them

[conquerwhatliesahead92]

i would love to see david tennant come back with a series three of ‘david tennant does a podcast with…’ and for joe quinn to be one of his guests. i feel like it would be the best interview

#joseph quinn #joe quinn #david tennant #david tennant does a podcast with #interviews

[kidneys-and-custard]

And thus begins the unbearable wait, I have inflicted upon myself, until the new year to listen to my most beloved podcast, solely to ensure it shall be my top podcast once more in the coming year

#credit to Jewel Ham for creating the wrapped we know and love #david we need more episodes please! #david tennant does a podcast with #david tennant does a podcast with… #david tennant #spotify #spotify wrapped #spotify wrapped 2023 #podcast #funny #meme

[neil-gaiman]

Hello Mr Gaiman ! In David Tennant does a podcast with, you said : "There is a project that I can't talk about right now that I'm writting with somebody I can't indentify right now -this is a terrible way of going into a thing- where we've been working on it for months and months and we didn't… We've been building everything up but we didn't know how it ended. And, finally, we were in the same physical space, actually having a conversation that wasn't on the phone. And all of a sudden we had the ending. And having the ending, knowing bit by bit just what the emotional ending of the thing was, opened up the entire thing like a door. Cause we had the plot, and we've had the plot for a while. We just weren't sure why we should care? Everything turned, and I immediatly knew what the opening scene had to be."

May I assume you were talking about Good Omens 2 ? If saw, I am super glad you found this ending. Because it broke my heart but oh my it really makes me care about the season more, to see all the troubles they can have in their relationship and why. So yeah anyway were you indeed talking about GO2 ?

Yes.

[mizgnomer]

David Tennant - photoshoot for The Observer (Feb 2019)

Photographer: Suki Dhanda

#david tennant #these are lovely #observer article #for david tennant does a podcast with #but another was used when Litvinenko was announced #so I guess it wasn't just for The Observer #nice photos though #I always appreciate a good david tennant photoshoot #stuff i posted

[embracing-the-ineffable]

Neil Gaiman does a podcast with David Tennant (2020)

The podcast is here, and there's a transcript of parts of it here. It's all really interesting!

Here's what really resonates for me. While talking about the opening flashbacks of s1e3 (emphasis is mine):

"Neil: It was utterly budget-busting and I also knew that it would make everything else work. And also it would make the scene I knew I was going to write in episode 3… it would turn that from a scene that was a bit sniffly into one that would break people’s hearts [yep, the bandstand scene], because you’d actually spent 28 minutes watching the ups and downs of these two on Earth for 6000 years becoming the only important thing in each other’s lives and here is this moment where there are actually… they have two utterly disparate philosophies of existing and Aziraphale cannot go off with Crowley and Crowley cannot leave without him but he has to, and you wind up with a ‘Have a nice doomsday’ line. But the excitement that I had of writing that stuff and the joy I had knowing that we’re going to watch the relationship open like a flower to us, ending in the 1960 with the hand-over of the holy water and there wouldn’t be a dry eye in the house - and I knew that because it did that for me - them watching what you and Michael brought to it and it became the most most glorious tentative friendship over thousands of years, that then becomes sort of peculiar and flirty and weird and prickly and funny and glorious, and, you know, it was the one that won me the Nebula Award."

This absolutely frames season 2 for me, and in particular the final fifteen minutes, which are season 2's heartbreaking bandstand scene. During season 2, we watched their relationship once again open like a glorious, flirty flower, still the only important thing in each other's lives, until their utterly disparate philosophies of existing separated them and broke all of our hearts.

But they came back together after the bandstand, and they will again after season 2 🤞❤️

#david tennant #neil gaiman #good omens #good omens season 1 #good omens season 2 #Interview #podcast #good omens meta #aziraphale #crowley #good omens analysis #ineffable husbands #love #gnu terry pratchett #terry pratchett #final fifteen #good omens speculation #good omens bandstand #good omens season 3 #ineffable lovers #ineffable fandom #ineffable divorce #ineffable idiots #ineffable spouses